Golden Pouch (2016)

Love Triangle and Signs from the Other

I just finished watching all 122 episodes and have been re-watching the series for more than half a dozen times from beginning to end. I really enjoyed the series because it tells us about how to live our lives to the fullest, and the meaning of families in our lives.

The wisdom and advice from Mr. Geum Jung-do to his adopted son (Dr. Han Seok-Hoon) and his three daughters (Geum Doo-na, Geum Seol-hwa, and Geum Se-na) are so meaningful and heartwarming. The phrases that Grandma Yoon uses also remind me of our elders when they describe the most basic rule of good manners. Also, "Golden Pouch" tells a story about Signs from the Other Side. Dr. Han Seok-Hoon's deceased Mom is sending signs to his son through Seol-hwa in the form of mandu/dumplings and embroidery pouch, including initial meeting between Dr. Han and Seol-hwa in the river in Namwon (the city where Dr. Han was born and almost drown in the river when he was six year old). The Signs from the Other Side are so vividly narrated throughout the series.

There is Love Triangle or rather three sided love triangle in "Golden Pouch". This K-drama series is so engaging and so memorable. Firstly, there is Dr. Han Seok-hoon's past relationship with Bae Min-hee, and secondly, both Dr. Han Seok-hoon and Yoon Joon-sang fall in love with Geum Seol-hwa. All lead characters have their own motivation, hopes, values and fears.

There is Bae Min-hee's ambitious motivation after Dr. Han rejects Min-hee when she wants to come back after she left Dr. Han when he loses his memory and cannot perform any surgeries due to his injury. Min-hee's "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" is so dreadful and horrifying to the end of the series.

For the audience, it seems that both Dr. Han Seok-hoon and Yoon Joon-sang are "perfect person" for Geum Seol-hwa. Seol-hwa has feeling for Dr. Han, but Seol-hwa's adopted mom, Kim Choo-ja, wants Seol-hwa to marry a perfect and flawless man, the son of the wealthy Yoon family. I find this unique love triangle story does not drag on too long, but is engaging. Will Seol-hwa choose the man that needs her (Dr. Han Seok-hoon) or the man that wants her (Yoon Joon-sang)?

Dr. Han Seok-hoon and Miss Geum Seol-hwa have excellent on-screen chemistry, one of the best I have ever seen, it is unrivalled by any other K-drama series. We really think they have been in love for centuries in “Golden Pouch”. I truly believe I am watching a true story rather than fictional K-drama series. Seol-hwa is so lovely. Dr. Han is so kind and never gives up on his patients, including his love of his life "patient", Seol-Hwa. He is really serious on his work in the surgical theater. Dr. Han and Geum Seol-hwa's love is so pure and genuine.

However, I find the ending of the “Golden Pouch” series is inconclusive and unsatisfactory. There is no wedding for Dr. Han and Ms. Geum Seol-hwa nor do the Yoon and Geum families eat dumplings at the Dumplings Shop to conclude the drama series. I would be profoundly delighted if you could produce a two-hour feature TV movie that starts with the wedding between Dr. Han Seok-hoon and Ms. Geum Seol-hwa and ends with Yoon and Geum families eating dumplings together at the Dumplings shop.

I truly hope for a happy ending for both Yoon and Geum families, and for Dr. Han and Ms. Geum, a match made in heaven.

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If you like soap operas, this is for you...

The cast has this ''cry-on-demand'' ability and comprises very good actors/actresses. I watched this drama because of the lead actor Kim Ji Han (aka Jin Yi Han) as I was mesmerised by his performance in Empress Ki - he speaks not only through words but also his facial expressions - and of course his good looks. And for the guys, there are plenty of good looking actresses.

The story centred around 3 ''orphans'' from different backgrounds - one is actively searching for his roots having lost his memory, one knows his roots and has a secret to hide, and the third is kept in the dark by the father who refuses to reveal the truth. Complications arise as they meet each other, fall in love, unaware of how their past lives have crossed and how they are related.

You would be glued to the drama as you pursue the mystery of what happens in the past and what is going to happen to the different characters. Get ready your handkerchief for the sobbing moments. Romance, sadness, humour - you will experience all these watching this drama. It is a trigger for a wide range of emotions.

What I really appreciate of this drama, aside for the range of emotions it evokes, is the diverse combination of personalities portrayed: kind and considerate but naive, kind but outwardly cold and smart, a ''bum'' but actually has an outstanding hidden skill, appears calculating but actually is very caring inside, scheming but has a soft emotional side, evil and non-repentant, brash and unpretentious but upright, and the list goes on. A very realistic portrayal of human personalities - none of those perfect non-existence character who is good in everything. The story as a whole is very well woven together.

However, the story is not entirely realistic - the bad guys seem to conveniently overhear important secrets at the right moment so they could scheme. Similarly the good guys would overhear those same secrets to be shocked or find out the truth. Since I cannot even figure out what my colleagues are talking about across the office, I could not see how people could pick up secrets so easily. Characters are always just keeping secrets and telling a white lie in the premise of saving others from getting hurt by the truth, or as they are too proud to admit their pain - this theme is so cliche, or is it cultural?

This was a long 122 episodes melodramatic soap drama although each episode is only a short half hour long. Still that would make over 60 episodes of the typical hour long drama series. There are a lot of draggy moments. I tapped the 10s forward icon a lot when the conversation got lengthy and not a lot was happening, when watching the drama. The ending is not quite strong - so very typical of long dramas. The evil ones should be punished heavier. It seems like writers and directors are just happy to have hold your attention to the end and not quite care how they end it.

In spite of some shortcomings, this is a very entertaining drama. If you like romantic soap operas, this is for you.

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A heartwarming family love story

It is heartwarming to watch “Golden Pouch”. The lead characters, Dr. Han Seok-Hoon (portrayed by Actor Jin Yi Han/Kim Ji Han) and Ms. Geum Seol-Hwa (portrayed by Actress Ryu Hyo Young/Jung Woo Yeon) portray pure love, a match made in heaven. The lead characters Dr. Han and Ms. Geum have a remarkable on-screen chemistry that is second to none; the best couple so far in any K-dramas. One could feel instantly the on-screen chemistry brewing when the lead characters meet by the river in the city of Namwon on the first episode in “Golden Pouch”. The initial appearance of the lead character Dr. Han on the river side makes one’s heart flutter.

There are so many heart wrenching episodes, especially when the dumpling store was destroyed by bad "untrue" comments on the internet, The screenwriter is very skillful in resolving heart wrenching issues. Every episode in "Golden Pouch" has an ending that leaves audience in suspense. It is worth waiting. All lead/supporting actors and actresses perform so well, notably Mr. Ahn Nae Sang that portrays character Geum Jung Do, the dumpling store owner. He seems to lead and works as a catalyst to make the story so engaging. The characters that are involved in the multifaceted love triangle convey the pain they feel so vividly. The audience could almost palpate the intense pain of Dr. Han in loving Seol Hwa, the tender love between Seol Hwa and Dr. Han, the hatred of Bae Min Hee toward Seol Hwa, and the want and desire of Yoon Jun Sang/Kang Shil Woo to have Seol Hwa by any means. It is worth noted too that Actor Jin Yi Han/Kim Ji Han that portrays Dr. Han Soek Hoon character conveys all different dimensions of emotions from an arrogant genius cardio thoracic surgeon (Dr. Han Seok Hoon), to a man that loses his memory, to a man that feels the pain of loving Miss Geum Seol Hwa (the love of his life), to a man that almost loses Miss Geum Seol Hwa to heart failure. Actress Ryu Hyo Young/Jung Woo Yeon that portrays Geum Seol Hwa is fun to watch and really engaging from episode 1 to episode 122 in “Golden Pouch”, her creative acting performance is exceptional in showing the different phases of Seol Hwa emotion. I hope actress Jung Woo Yeo/Ryu Hyong Young will find many good scripts in the future and bloom in her acting performance. Salute to Kim Dae-jin, the director and also to Lee Hye-sun, the writer of "Golden Pouch", it is a beautiful story. I hope MBC would make "Golden Pouch" season II to conclude the story.

However, the ending is an open-ended story; the audience are left to draw their own conclusions for each character from what is shown on the concluding episode. I must say “Golden Pouch” is truly an unforgettable heartwarming K-drama series with beautiful original sound tracks. Salute to Kim Dae-jin, the director and also to Lee Hye-sun, the writer of "Golden Pouch", and the editing/music/sounds department, it is a beautiful story. I hope MBC would make "Golden Pouch" season II to conclude the story.

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I don't want to reveal to much (I hate spoilers) so here is a short explanation. I did enjoy watching it but only because i have a lot of time on my hands, i took my time watching it and i found it was good to have on in the background while doing various other things(like cooking). I thought that the side couple (Doo Na & Min Kyoo) story was way more entertaining than the main couple but i think that about a lot of these long dramas. There was some hot kissing scenes and I think they did a good job pacing the drama. However,
everyone is an orphan! Really? 0_o no really its weird and funny at times but its so cliche,
I like cliches and if you do to then i recommend you watch this drama!

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This is a tale of live lines intersecting in unexpected and highly implausible ways. The plot is maintained because the characters are in search for information which is not available either by luck of by design (well-meant or otherwise), denied on purpose, unavailable due to memory loss, acquired through eavesdropping, or falsified. The concurrence of these events is implausible to say the least, while completely acceptable events fail to materialise due to the characters' choice, which is usually highly unreasonable. The goodies and baddies not always get their deserved lot. The lead character, wonderfully played by Kim Jihan, is an excellent surgeon who is in search of his roots. Along this line, the story branches to deal with the lives of many related persons. Timelines are not realistic, and the depiction of many processes is non-factual. But if viewers wants to throw logic and reality out of the window, they can be entertained. Nevertheless, the story line(s) are not well developed, especially as the drama progresses towards the end. This review is cryptic because it is trying to avoid spoilers. The drama deserves a 10 for acting and production, but a 6 for story development.

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Watchable...

Apparently being a doctor is overrated. The parents (Jung Do & Choo Ja) had a great chemistry that really made the family alive. Doo Na chaotic behavior was a treat, although I didn't like her love story. I wish there was a better family dynamic that also included all the sisters since the other two sisters were kinda neglected outside their brief non-family related side story. All the love relationships sucked and all of them ended up being underdeveloped because there was no room for them since the drama heavily focus on the handful of scattered secrets which occupied the entire runtime. The drama had a big problem in tying loose threads most of which were neglected until the end which resulted in a rushed ending trying to tie all the loose threads quickly. Speaking of the ending, it kinda sucked and really rushed without much thought put into it. The drama had nice moments when it comes to "family" scenes but unfortunately it's lacking a lot in all of the other areas.

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Strong start, weak ending

It started off very well and I was enjoying the storyline. The scenes between the father and other characters of the story are precious and enjoyable. There are comic scenes as well. The middle part of the story becomes very draggy though and it takes a long time for secrets to come out slowly. The last part of the story was interesting but it has a weak and incomplete ending. Sudden change of hearts in evil characters in the end is something I don't understand. . Female lead character could be written better.

The part that I am most dissatisfied is the arch of Shin Woo. He was lonely from beginning to end. The lead actor also had fake parents but they were forgiven while Shin Woo wasn't. He was a good, kind but lonely person, sacrificed a lot and he should have gotten a better ending especially with the family he spent 30 years with. He didn't get mothers' love until the end. I think character growths and closing of the arcs could be better. Would have given higher rating if the Shin Woo character was wrapped properly. And I don't really understand what happened to main couple in the end and what was the leap for?

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The family is the best bit

I enjoyed most of the first half but gradually got battle fatigue and ended skipping through the second half. For me the family dynamic was the best part and the twists but turns they took slowly wore that away.
I didn't really feel the chemistry of the main leads or the other younger couples, Choo Ja and Jung Do had the chops instead. The Makjang plot elements were dragged on too long after I'd worked them out and the baddies were a little too one dimensional to hate rather just be irritated by.
Still I forced my way through to the end so not a waste of effort.

I'd watch Choo Ja again but probably not anyone else.

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